No Child Left Behind Act: Assistance from Education Could Help States Better Measure Progress of Students with Limited English Proficiency

The agency's LEP Partnership (announced immediately after GAO's report in July 2006) has been working to provide technical assistance on this issue. Specifically, the partnership has initiated work on 6 technical assistance projects, including developing a handbook on appropriate accommodations for LEP students. This handbook is expected to be completed in the fall of 2008. In October 2006, an Education funded study on accommodations for LEP students was published on the partnership website (Practical Guidelines for the Education of English Language Learners: Research-Based Recommendations for the Use of Accommodations in Large-Scale Assessments).

Education's LEP Partnership (announced immediately after GAO's report in July 2006) has been working to identity states' technical assistance needs. For example, the partnership has met with states in August and October of 2006 to discuss areas for which states need additional technical assistance. Based on this input, the Education has initiated work on 6 technical assistance projects, developing, among other things, a framework for English language proficiency standards and assessments, along with guides for developing native language and simplified assessments and conducting sight translations. The guides are expected to be published at the partnership's next meeting in October 2007 and will help states more validly and reliably assess the academic knowledge of LEP students.

Education's Limited English Proficiency (LEP) Partnership (announced immediately after GAO's report in July 2006) has been working to provide technical assistance on this issue. In October 2007, the Partnership published a draft framework for developing high quality English language proficiency (ELP) standards and assessments. The framework is intended to help states identify their technical assistance needs with respect to ELP standards and assessments. In December 2007, Education invited states to undertake an independent and voluntary review of their ELP standards and assessments using the framework and offered technical assistance in support of this effort. Between March and May 2008, Education worked with 6 states to review their ELP standards and assessments and obtained feedback on the draft framework. The final framework is expected to be published in October 2008. Further, the LEP partnership has initiated work on a technical assistance project to help states consider issues related to linking their ELP and academic assessments. A guide on considerations in linking ELP and academic assessments was disseminated at the partnership's October 2007 meeting. Finally, in May 2008, Education also published a Notice of Proposed Interpretation that provided more guidance with respect to ELP assessments and tracking the progress of LEP students in learning English.

Based on a recent notice in the Federal Register, Education has considered and implemented some additional flexibility for states with respect to accountability requirements for students with limited English proficiency (LEP)--specifically the requirements that LEP students served by Title III of the No Child Left Behind Act are (1) making progress in learning English, (2) attaining proficiency in English, and (3) meeting the state's annual yearly progress goals in language arts and math. On October 17, 2008, Education published a notice of final interpretation that revised Education's interpretation to provide more flexibility in how states are held accountable for the performance of LEP students. For example, rather than requiring states to demonstrate that a student had made progress separately in the four required language domains, the notice allows states to demonstrate student progress in learning English based on progress in one or more of the language domains or based on a single composite score. Education also revised its requirement that a state demonstrate that all LEP students have made progress in learning English and now allows students to exclude those students who have not participated in at least two administrations of the state's annual English language proficiency test. Education also revised its interpretation to permit states to use its annual yearly progress results for all LEP students, rather than just Title III served LEP students, to meet the Title III language arts and math progress goals because some states do not have the systems in place to accurate determine progress for just Title III served LEP students.